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American journalist and podcaster David Seaman posted a scathing critique of the IRSâs newly announced stance on Bitcoin earlier this week. The IRS has said it will be taxing Bitcoins, and any other digital currencies, as property.

In his post on Medium, called âThe US Governmentâs Vendetta Against Bitcoin is Unacceptable,â Seaman says Washingtonâs position is going to undercut Americaâs ability to innovate in the cryptocoin space, and some other countries are going to take the lead.

âMiners are subject to the self-employment tax,â he writes. âAre you kidding me? Running a program on your computer makes you self-employed?

âI guess every Halo player is now a military contractor, by the same logic.

âBitcoin is now treated by the IRS as physical property, making it all but useless within the United States as a functioning transactional medium, especially for small everyday transactions.â

He went on to compare the position similar to if the IRS had charged property taxes for URLs in the â90s. Then, he takes the governmentâs position to its logical conclusion:

âAnd by extension, isnât the NSA committing physical theft every single day?

âThereâs also the fact that the highest levels of leadership within the US government, including Novemberâs Senate hearing on digital currencies, have always referred to Bitcoin as an âelectronic currencyâ or a âvirtual convertible currencyâ in the case of the Treasury Department.

âTheyâve never referred to it as âelectronic propertyââ this is a vicious bait and switch.â